Slashdot Mirror
Amiga Inc. Reveals Further Info About Amiga OS5
Amiga Gamer writes "Amiga Inc. Acting President Bill McEwen has given an update to Amiga OS5 of sorts. In a previous interview Bill had said of OS5: "The product that we are going to ship is going to be much better than OSX from Apple". "OS 5 is ahead of schedule, and we will be making public announcements concerning the product in the 4th quarter of this year.""
They heard it won't work with their 1000's.
OS 5 can't be but half as good as OS X!
There are three dominant OS's out there. Windows is the most dominant desktop, followed by OSX and then Linux. What is Amiga going to bring to the table?
Hell, IBM resurrecting OS/2 would make more sense.
and no i didnt read the story.. cant get to it.
1 - what hardware does it run on, generic PC's? Generic Macs? If its still on custom hardware, its DOA at this stage of the game.
2 - software: is it all custom, or can i run Word, Acrobat, etc? If it cant run commodity software its also DOA as far as the big picture is concerned. ( X11 will help.. )
While it may be great technology, there are 100s of 'good' OS's out there that are niche markets. That doesnt make them 'better'. Even when they had a chance like Be. You just hve to have a level of compatiblity of both hardware AND software of the 2 big players to really make it and be 'better'.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Let me be the first to welcome our Amiga-friendly, Commodore-centric, TI-99 riding robotic overlords.
They visit our earth once more.
Yeah? Well I think you're overrated too.
"I can't answer any of your questions due to pending litigation and NDAs, but keep the faith, Amiga is and will be the best platform, ever. Oh, and 20yrs old sources to historic versions of AmigaOS is our core intelectual property asset, so the release of them is never going to happen."
Robert
Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
I was at the August meeting of the Berlin Amiga Users Group. There were 130 people there. We had to move to from the pub we started at because there were too many of us! I talked to one guy there who was in the Rotterdam Amiga Users Group, and they routinely had 90 to 100 people show up to their meetings. Those are significantly larger crowds that I've ever seen at Linux user group meetings. Amiga was always big in Europe, and still is, even many years after the demise of their mainstream products.
god no! they DID make next generation versions of oregon trail, THEY SUCKED, I'm still playing the original :D
:)
and still no girlfriend!
Thank you, thank you, i'll be here all night
Improved hardware independence?
:-p
So far, AmigaOS 4 is a bit like OS X being built for special hardware, just that this one lacks the hardware.
I can understand if Apple doesn't want to let go of OS X like that, because they after all sell a lot of hardware this way, but isn't AmigaOS 4 is in such a horribly sorry state that Amiga Inc would only win on having it support other hardware platforms better?
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I don't trust Bill McEwen more than Steve Ballmer.
I bought the Amiga Hardware Reference Guide before the computer was even released, read it cover to cover, many times, all about the sound, video, and other hardware, and I knew had to have this hardware. The Amiga legend was really born because of absolutely the best documentation any computer system has ever had, and, then fostered by the execution. I read the documentation. I walked into a Sears, saw the King Tut image in Deluxe Paint, and I so blown away that I literally shook in my shoes. It all came together - great documentation, beautiful hardware, and an ok operating system, in one moment, where I could see the demo, understand completely what it meant, and I had to have one. I opened up a credit card that I couldn't possibly pay for and I bought the thing. It was one of the best days of my life and I feel fortunate to have lived solely to have been there for that moment.
But, those days are gone. If anyone could make anything like Amiga, it would be AMD (Apple is more marketing than any real hardware expertise on its own) - but AMD would also have to hire not just good, but great writers, and document everything the way the Amiga was documented. You would have to have AMD rolling out with a pretty good CPU, next generation hardware, all in a consumer friendly case with a completely new operating system. Part of Amiga's appeal was that the whole thing was different. For AMD to pump that kind of money into some new consumer / geek box would almost certainly demand that it run Windows or Linux, and we already know enough about both to not really get excited over either. A souped up / updated version of BeOS is what that kind of hardware needs - really, the coolest new OS ever made, and I doubt seriously that AMD could take that risk.
But, a man can dream.
This is my sig.
Ubuntu passed the 8m mark abouut 9 months ago, based on the number of people updating from Ubuntu servers.
Note that updates can be cached, there are probably people sho do not update (for example because they have slow internet connection), and there are people who update from mirrors, so it is probably an undercount.
Ubutntu and Linux are growing, so the numbers are higher now
If Ubuntu alone has that many users it seems probable that desktop Linux is ahead of Mac OS's 20m+.
Yes, I remember my Amiga.. I started a bit late...picked up my brother's old Amiga 1000 when he left it for the MacIIfx (I believe he paid 2k or 4k for that? wow!) and I was in love with Defender of the Crown, Marble Madness, Battlehawks 1942, etc. WOW!
...... "Flicker fixer" which allowed me to connect a RGB PC Monitor and run things at a higher resolution without "flickering". Remember Newtek's Video Toaster? I heard (not confirmed) that Babylon 5 space scenes were done on it. Amazing stuff I tell you!
Then, I upgraded to a 2000 and the 8mhz CPU just wasn't enough. I had to upgrade it with a 68030 running at *gasp* 25mhz and wow things were great. I ran a 2 phone line BBS (using C-net) with my prized USRobotics HST modem and a regular 2400 baud on the other line. Sure, it was a warez bbs but wow those were some great memories! I could multitask the BBS (with 2 users uploading/downloading/posting), write my homework using Scribble!(a wordprocessor), print my homework and have Monkey Island running at full speed while printing. No slowdown. It was amazing at the time, esp. compared to Windows (3.11? Or 3.0? Not sure, barely remember those things then).
The full screen program multitasking, which let you pull up and down a full screened program like slides, was quite amazing and powerful. The games, the sounds, all amazing. Of course, this is compared to AdLib soundcards and CGA/EGA. At the time, there was no reason to "game" with your dad's expensive PC other than the fact that it was "all that is available at home."
But now? C'mon! I soon had to let go of my Amiga when no further developments came along. When Doom came out for the PC along with Wing Commander, Strike Commander, etc., the Amiga just started to look antiquated. Sure, the multitasking element was nice, but it just lost the gaming advantage when no advances in the graphics department were forthcoming. There was just so much potential but the management just took the potential and threw it down the drain. The only graphics update I got was a
Anyway, sorry for the nostalgia. Back to topic: Workbench (the Amiga OS) 3 looks about Windows 3.1 level still, maybe a bit better. It's pathetic. I don't know about Workbench 4 and good lord how could a BRAND NEW market untested and long development dormant OS be better than OSx? C'mon! That's like creating a new model of the DeLorean and saying "This is better than a Ferrari. Trust me!"
It ships with Duke Nukem Forever preinstalled.